Education

AUSTIN, Texas - An Austin ISD parent says she plans to take legal action against the district. Video taken on Sept. 18 shows a 10th-grade student and assistant principal wrestling in the restroom of Navarro Early College High School. The student says this incident happened during a restroom break between...

AUSTIN, Texas — A popular day care in Austin is under fire again after another lawsuit claims to have caught more abuse on camera. An Austin mother claims her 18-month-old suffered serious physical, emotional and mental harm after an incident at The Children's Courtyard in May 2023. According to...

AUSTIN, Texas — A second lawsuit has been filed against a popular South Austin daycare center over abuse allegations. An Austin mother is claiming her 18-month-old daughter suffered serious physical, emotional, and mental harm after a May 2023 incident at the Children's Courtyard, located on West William Cannon Drive.

KYLE — Several parents recently spoke at the Hays CISD Board of Trustees meetings regarding concerns within the district’s Special Education Department. To provide clarification and answers to trustees, Executive Officer of Special Education Michelle Velasquez and Director of Special Education Melissa Corona gave a presentation at the Sept. 24 meeting. During public comment, Allison Stern, who is a parent of three special education students and is a Hays CISD employee, stated that her top concerns are the safety, the Individual Education Plan (IEP)s and foundational learning environments for her daughter. “[There is an issue with] the retention and burnout of our current and amazing special education staff. I am concerned for my colleagues and my [daughter’s] current [foundational learning] teachers and support staff with the caseload they currently have,” said Stern. Two other parents also expressed concerns about the ongoing staffing issue and missing inclusion minutes. According Hays CISD officials, inclusion minutes “are minutes where a student is supported by an adult in a general education setting.” Because these students may need additional learning services or support in a foundational learning classroom, they may receive inclusion support in the general educational classroom. These minutes do not have a state-mandated amount, but are instead determined by the student’s Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) committee. Beginning the presentation, Velasquez noted that in October 2022, at Regional 13 trainings for special education directors, there was discussion on how to retain and hire teachers. After listening to their teachers, they recognized that there was a significant amount of burnout. Other challenges included: the increase in the number of students needing services; students of varying grade levels in the same classroom, which would take away a professional from the classroom in order to take students to specific activities for their grade level; and some programs only had one teacher, while other campuses didn’t have a program at all. “We also noticed that the exposure of students to different staff and paraprofessionals and different people in class was very limited. We weren’t exposing our students to different styles and personalities for them to be able to adapt and learn those skills to be out in our community,” said Velasquez. Velasquez stated that it has been difficult to keep up with the growth, as the student and staff numbers have increased. She then presented “the facts” of the school year: • Two classrooms were added at the elementary level to keep up with growth. • Some classrooms were shifted from one school to another, since there is growth in certain spots. • New campuses opened, so the district evaluated schools and students to see where they needed to be because they had new programs available for them, with no change to the secondary schools. “As of Monday, {Sept. 23], we have 324 students who have transferred into Hays CISD who already were receiving special education services from a previous district. Just to put that in perspective, our number of students that we typically have at the end of the year that transfer into Hays CISD with services is 480,” said Velasquez. These transfers create challenges, as Corona stated that staffing is based on the known students returning, so the district has no way of predicting how many children will transfer in. “There are some things in education that we can’t control. We can’t control the funding that the state is giving us; what we can control is the amount of support that we are giving to our teachers through our facilitators taking that paperwork off of their plates, support from our district staffer instruction and behavior. Our special education teachers and paraprofessionals are doing things like giving up lunches because they know that the safety of their kids comes first. And so, they are working without, so that our students can be in a safe situation,” said Corona. She also stated that they had a chance to speak with some of the teachers in the foundational learning classrooms, who expressed concerns of overcrowded classrooms, the difficulty to find substitutes to cover their classes, etc. “They have asked us to consider the following: an increase in the special education stipend, compensation for them when planning periods are not possible, adding additional classrooms to decrease the class sizes and having campuses provide subs on a regular basis so that teachers can work on paperwork. For further consideration, they’ve asked us to continue to consider staff to student ratio in classrooms,” said Corona. In a previous interview with the Hays Free Press , district officials stated that each classroom varies based on needs, but that the range is from 1:1 (one student per one staff member) to 4:1 (four students per one staff member). These foundational learning educators also stated that having more than one teacher in a classroom would be great to team teach and serve all the students. While acknowledging these issues, Corona listed several ways that the district is attempting to mend the situation: • For classroom vacancies, campus administrators are working to secure qualified substitute teachers. • Low incident specialists and special educational coordinators are acting as case managers to monitor IEPs. • In order to not overload campuses, they sometimes have to bus students to different campuses. • They are tracking inclusion minutes that are missed and will be working to provide creative solutions to the missing minutes. “In retrospect, we do recognize that we could have clarified some of the language that we used when we were discussing some changes that were happening and we also could have definitely communicated with families sooner. There were some contingencies with that and so, some of that information didn’t come through as soon as it should have,” said Velasquez. According to Velasquez, next steps are continuing to search for qualified candidates, continuing to track the goals for students, looking at determining the need for compensatory services, they are communicating with families on the state of the services (especially at the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee meetings) and continuing to communicate with staff about the needs to classrooms. Trustee Vanessa Petrea began the discussion by revealing that the board has no input on the — what she would classify as a — program change to the foundational learning classrooms. According to Petrea, the change of staffing within the classrooms qualified as a budget concern, which should have been presented to the board. “We’re the only ones that can approve those budget creative solutions, so I really wish we would have been able to be better partners in solving this instead of being blindsided at the beginning of school with this information,” Petrea said. The program change Petrea is discussing is what Velasquez stated both at the meeting, and district officials stated in a previous interview with the Hays Free Press, is the removal of “structured” from the foundational learning class. According to the trustee, the definitions in the board policy code deem this a program change, which states “the definition of a program change is … the restructure of an instructional delivery method or a modification or reorganization of staffing patterns in a department on a particular campus or district wide.” Trustee Johnny Flores asked the presenters whether they would agree that merging these classrooms, the foundational learning and the previous foundational learning structured classrooms, would pose a safety issue for students. To which Velasquez said that it could pose a threat if the classes were mixed, but that the teachers stayed in their same rooms. Lorraine Patterson testified at the Sept. 16 meeting that her daughter, who was in a foundational learning structured classroom, was put into a regular foundational learning classroom with less than 24 hours’ notice to the teacher, which caused injuries to her daughter, the teacher and other students. Trustee Bryan Severance noted these contrasting statements and emphasized that there needs to be consistency for children. “This is more than a name change and I think everyone knows that,” Petrea said. She also said that the number of special education students in Hays County is rising, but resources are steadily decreasing, so having a communicative relationship is vital for the care of students. To further demonstrate the lack of communication, Petrea stated that she asked two times in June of this year what changes would be made to the Special Education Department, both times in which she received no notification of changes in foundational learning classrooms. “I defended — what I now know to be — a false narrative, that there were going to be other changes,” emphasized Petrea. Flores also questioned why this information was sent out the day before school started. Velasquez explained that at the April 30 meeting, staff discussed considerations, but that, ultimately, they were unaware whether they would receive the staffing that the department requested. Petrea stated that, in her opinion,  she believes that foundational learning classrooms need to be less than 10 students, with no more than three students per educator, to have a functioning classroom. Other questions the trustee had were whether the district considered sign-on bonuses and retention bonuses, differentiating pay for special education qualified substitutes, having other students volunteer in foundational learning classrooms and asking principals what ideas they have. “I know that our district is working on long-term solutions …  But we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We have a problem right now that we have to solve for,” concluded Petrea. In similar sentiments to Petrea, trustee Courtney Runkle asked whether the Special Education Department discussed with other districts that are using the same format and ask what the results have been as well as the teachers in the district’s own campuses: “It seems like we’ve heard from —it feels like — almost all of them that this is not working and that they are not happy and this is affecting our students.” “I have two children in special education and it is incredibly hard and frustrating as a parent to have to advocate for your kid and to constantly advocate and advocate and advocate. There are so many parents — there are so many students — that don’t have or not even they don’t have, but their parents aren’t capable of advocating for them and that’s where that’s up to us, and up to you guys, to be that advocate for them. We have to do better,” Runkle said. “We’re 100% Hays. We make 100% of things possible, but this has to be for 100% of kids,” stressed Flores. To listen to the full presentation and discussion, visit bit.ly/3ZEzQIs .

BEE CAVE, Texas — A student at Bee Cave Middle School was arrested Tuesday morning in connection with a threat posted on social media, according to Lake Travis Independent School District officials. The arrest stems from a Snapchat post made on Friday, Sept. 27, which read: "The pep rally?...

Choosing where to live could come down to the strength of the school district for many parents, and a new study ranks the top 50 in the nation.

DRIPPING SPRINGS — Dripping Springs High School announced the 2024 Homecoming Court, including the king and queen nominees and the underclass dukes and duchesses. Seniors nominated for Homecoming queen are Kylie Acosta, Ava Azua, Emily Molleur, Mia Pleasant and Eloise Roffers. King nominees are Ryan Fehler, Jamison Malcom, Jackson Mills, Cooper Rummel and Eben Sebastian. The freshman duke and duchess are Idea Green and Brooklyn Reiling; the sophomore honorees are Gray Magby and Talia Alvarado; and the junior duke and duchess are Axel Skinner and Alexa Nimocks. The Homecoming king and queen will be announced during halftime of the Dripping Springs High School football game against Austin High School on Friday, Oct. 4 at Tiger Stadium. Prior to the game, the underclass dukes and duchesses will be recognized at 7:05 p.m. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. A Homecoming parade will be held around Dripping Springs High School at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2, followed by a community pep rally at Tiger Stadium. A carnival, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the G lot (north of Tiger Stadium), will conclude the night’s festivities. Community members attending the parade may park in any of the DSHS lots, but the district asks them to arrive before 5:50 p.m. as the DSHS campus will be closed to traffic until after the parade has concluded.

Pictured, Hays freshman outside hitter Malia Gibbs (No. 14) digs the ball. PHOTO BY URSULA ROGERS Hays Hawk Makayla White (No. 8), leaps to spike the ball in the district matchup against the Leander Lions. PHOTO BY URSULA ROGERS

School threats have been on the rise in Central Texas over the last few weeks.

The fear of school shootings is present in young people all over the U.S. On Tuesday, Sept. 24, San Marcos High School (SMHS) students experienced that fear in real time after a false active shooter threat forced them into lockdown. Though there is relief in the falseness of the threat,...

Dripping Springs continued to roll with a 3-1 win over Lake Travis and a sweep of Akins to remain atop this week’s 4A-6A rankings – but there was definitely some movement beneath the Lady Tigers. Austin High, Buda Johnson and Vandegrift all cruised to a perfect week to move up, bracketing 4A power Wimberley who also went 2-0 last week.

Austin-based artificial intelligence education company Cognify wants to transform the way college students learn.

AUSTIN, Texas - If you’re a student at Crockett Early College High School, you may have heard this group performing before class starts for the day. "We are happy to be there. And it's a lot of courage to go out there to perform in front of a bunch of people. But it's also really nerve wracking," says Joshua Garcia, junior at Crockett ECHS.

With the start of the school, all the Eagles are getting back into the motions of school. This is the same with our Fine Arts students. The marching band, color guard, and Diamond Dazzlers, cheerleaders, and choir are all working hard and preparing to perform, entertain, and compete. These students have been working very hard to get their performances ready.

Lockhart Junior High’s 8th grade football teams dominated Gonzales last week, whipping the Apaches, 27-6, in the Maroon (A) game, and 33-0 in the White (B) contest. Quarterback Demonte Anthony led the Maroon Lions with 149 yards rushing – 109 in the first half – including passing for two touchdowns, running for a TD, and adding two extra-point runs and another via the pass.

Iran fired dozens of missiles into Israel on Tuesday. There are more than five dozen UT-Austin students studying abroad there currently, and even more who go to school here.

WIMBERLEY — The Wimberley Texans football team rebounded with a win on the road after suffering two consecutive away game losses to LBJ and Lampasas. With a 2-2 record, and their third consecutive away game, the Texans opened 4A Division 2 District 13 play with a decisive 47-21 win over host Navarro High School on Friday, Sept. 27. It was a huge win for Wimberley, who had not lost back-to-back games since the 2020 season. Head coach Doug Warren was impressed with the way the Texans began district play and put the two losses in the rear-view mirror: “We knew that everyone was 0-0 heading into the start of district play and how important it was for us to get a win on the road. We had a good week of practice and followed that up with a good outing on Friday night.” The Texans led 26-0 at the half and the scoring started from their first possession and play when Nolan Waida took a hand-off from quarterback Cody Stoever and ran for a 60-yard touchdown. Stoever would score next on an 8-yard run for a 12-0 lead after both extra points were missed. Waida who totaled 53 yards on two receptions, both resulting in touchdowns, scored on a 30-yard pass from Stoever for a 19-0 lead after the point after kick by Bo Holman was good. Josh Belanger recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown after a pass reception was fumbled, and the extra point was good to end the first half. Scoring in the second half came from a 52-yard touchdown run by Jace Morales, a 23-yard touchdown pass to Waida and a touchdown run by Benji Olmedo (six carries for 22 yards). Stoever led in rushing with 72 of the Texans’ 288 yards.  Cory Chappell had 22 yards, Jackson Parker had five yards, Mavreick Jacobs had 11 yards and Belanger had 44 yards. Waida led in pass receptions with 52 yards of the Texans’ 152-yard total. Morales had 42 yards and Bryson Anderson had 44 yards. Wimberley 3-2 (1-0) is open next week and has five games remaining on the schedule. The Texans will host Salado High School 2-3 (0-1) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11 before traveling to Jarrell High School on Oct. 18. “This is a good time to have the bye so we can rest up and heal before the back end of the season,” Warren said.